Faith-Based Health Sharing Plans

Health insurance has become a hot topic of discussion around these parts lately. One of the things that has come up more and more for those fed up with traditional health insurance is the concept of health sharing plans in lieu of traditional health insurance. The idea isn’t new – faith-based “health sharing arrangements” have been around since the early 80’s as an alternative to standard health insurance plans.

The thing I’ve long hailed is that no matter what your lot in life, health insurance is a necessity. I believe you take too big a risk of sinking your financial ship if you do not carry at least basic major medical coverage of some sort, and I even dedicated a portion of my book to that very notion.

There are plenty of folks out there that don’t have insurance and can’t afford to spend the money to buy it. For a standard family plan, even when everybody is healthy, it is possible to spend $1,000 or more per month for basic health coverage.

Costs vary wildly across the country and are based on too many factors to get into here, so let me sum up my findings on traditional insurance with one statement: it is EXPENSIVE. So alternatives to traditional health insurance are always of interest to those who want a safety net but don’t want to pay an insurance company.

Since I didn’t know much about the alternatives (other than Medicare and the like), I’ve done some research and want to share what I’ve found. Before I continue, please know I’m not an expert so I’d love your comments and feedback on your knowledge and experience with these health insurance alternatives.

Health Sharing is a viable alternative to traditional insurance, but it is not actual insurance

Here’s basically how it works. Each month, members pay a fixed amount into a pool, which is jointly shared among a large group of members. That pool covers the medical needs of those who submit claims and the general administrative expenses of the program. Unlike medical insurance, you are able to learn how the monies were spent and how coverage is handled. In fact, Medi-Share is proud of the fact that its members actually vote on what gets covered and what doesn’t.

It’s accepted

Second, for those of you concerned about how the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) affects these plans, there’s no need to be concerned. Members of health care sharing ministries are not subject to the insurance requirement and don’t face penalty for not having “insurance.”

It doesn’t cover everything

I found a major quirk with these types of health sharing arrangements that you won’t usually find with insurance. This is where I spent most of my time learning and what I would suggest you really look into if you’re considering these types of programs. Health sharing plans are very up-front in saying that they won’t cover every type of medical expense that comes along and they set some expectations up front on who can join.

Samaritan Ministries openly shares in its guidelines that you must proclaim Christ as your savior, attend church regularly, abstain from tobacco and/or drugs, and limit your alcohol intake. I guarantee you’ll never read that in a traditional insurance policy!

The downfall

I only found one big thing that bothered me about these plans – eligibility.

With traditional insurance, you’re usually covered for just about anything that falls under your plan. With health sharing arrangements, that may or may not be the case. For example, while the rules around it don’t seem like they’re too tough to follow, it is very possible that I could submit a bill and the members could opt to not share the funds to pay it.

This was a concern I found over and over in the online articles I read, as well as a question addressed by Medi-Share and Samaritan Ministries. Their answers are almost identical: if you are living a biblical Christian lifestyle and have a health issue, you can be confident it will be covered. That only makes me feel a little better.

In summary

So what are my final thoughts? If I couldn’t get a good traditional health insurance policy, I would strongly consider a health sharing arrangement. For the average uninsured person, this type of plan might just be the best safety net your money can buy.

Is it as good as traditional health insurance? My vote is no. However, it is a heck of a lot cheaper than paying out of pocket for medical bills and much less expensive than buying an individual policy.

What are your thoughts? I’d love to know your experience with these plans, good or bad.

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About Barry

Barry is the husband half of the Humorous Homemaking team. He speaks and writes about personal finance issues, helping people get out of debt, live on a budget and make the most of every cent that comes into their hands. He is the author of From Debtor to Better: The Details of Debt and How to Get Out! and regularly speaks at conferences and other events.

Comment Policy: I love reading your thoughts and input on what you read here. I'm sure we'll disagree sometimes and that's okay! In those cases, do what's right for you and yours. As with any form of communication, only post comments that move the discussion in a positive direction.

Comments

Just wanted to mention that the cheapest plan with CHM is cheaper than paying the penalty for not having insurance. It doesn’t cover much, but at least you have something in case of major hospital bills, and you don’t have to pay the penalty which is increasing every year. There is no way we could afford regular health insurance, and we had been going without, but we joined CHM so we won’t have to pay the penalty next year. We are paying $135/mo. for our whole family. I don’t know numbers, but I know it’s cheaper than the penalty. I’d say it’s an excellent option for any Christian who currently can’t afford insurance. chministries.org for those interested. : )

another great option we have found is concierge medicine. We went to a high deductible plan and opened an HSA account where our employer matched our savings. In NE Tennessee (where we live) we have Blackbagdoc.com. He is a Christian man who opened up his practice a few years ago. He only accepts a limited number of patients. Does not accept insurance, and gives us unlimited care during the year. We pay him roughly $1500 per year for our entire family. He is available to us 24/7 and will even come to our home to treat us. He will do a yearly physical and order labs and xrays at a very minimal cost to us. He takes the time to get to know our family and I feel I can call him for any reason…no matter how minor. Our HSA covers all our fees to pay for his services. It was a win win for us.

I’m always surprised when Christian Healthcare Ministries doesn’t get more mentions on this topic. They’ve been around the longest of all the other companies mentioned. I think some of the other companies are just better at working the online angle and getting noticed. 😉

We’ve been with CHM for a few years. We’ve yet to submit a need, so I can’t speak to that process, but they’ve often spoken to our chosen providers on the phone (because we’re terrible at explaining it to people, LOL) and we’ve always heard how helpful they are on the phone with providers. We pay $385/month with me and our toddler at the highest levels, and my husband one level down. Our goal this year is to up us all to the highest level and sign up for their optional program that raises the sharing limit amounts (for if a serious and expensive illness presents itself). Next time I’m pregnant, that will all be shareable and taken care of. Love it.

CHM is really best for people who don’t mind paying out of pocket for preventative stuff (we only do a couple of infant exams and then a once a year check-up for kids, I go to my lady doctor once a year, and my husband orders blood work for all of us once a year – perk of having a chiropractor as a husband!) and alternative treatments (they don’t cover chiropractic care, which is crazy and I’ve told them so, but I guess I don’t care since I’m married to one!). That stuff truly doesn’t have to be expensive though, especially if you save a little bit every month into a fund for it.

We’re happy overall! I didn’t like the idea of the other companies for a variety of reasons, but the main one is that I’d need a pastor to sign off on needs we’re sharing. Hello, none of your business! We do agree to live a certain lifestyle though as a part of signing up. And I get that. Also, I like paying my share to CHM and not directly to others. That seemed too risky to us.

PS – If you’re looking to sign up for one of these programs, make sure to tell them who referred you. Some of the programs have it so you get a free month whenever you refer someone to sign up. What a blessing to a family! We did that when we signed up and saved a family over $400 that month! 🙂

Are you able to join a health sharing plan AND have a HSA? I’ve had a HSA for as long as I can remember, my regular insurance has never paid a penny for anything. Also, I just got married and have a 3 year old son, would the health sharing plans have a problem that he’s not my husbands? My husband is going to adopt him soon.

That depends. If you mean can you continue to pay into the HSA pre-tax, the answer is no. Federal government mandates only allow pre-tax contributions while you are enrolled in high deductible health plan.

If you mean can you still use the balance in your HSA, the answer is yes. You own it, and you can use it regardless of your current coverage – as long as it is for a valid medical expense.

We’re members of Samaritan Ministries and have been on the receiving end once–great experience. They don’t cover everything, but it is our best choice as we can not afford health insurance in our state (and our income disqualifies us for our state’s “welfare” insurance). My friend is paying $3000 each month for her family’s insurance; deductible and co-pays are additional expenses. I don’t need to “haggle” with providers for lower fees–I inform the provider that I am “self-pay,” and they have always reduced the fee without me asking (that is for things that Samaritan does not cover as well). Since each member sends their monthly share directly to another member in need, I’m thankful for the controls that are in place. Each member can also choose to send $25 a month to another member for “special prayer needs;” this helps to cover pre-existing conditions or needs that do not meet the guidelines–Samaritan provides this information to us and it can be sent to them as a designated gift (for a tax deductible receipt) or directly to the person in need. Each month we receive a prayer list with names of people in need (medical issues and upcoming births) and a magazine with encouraging and helpful information. The organization seems to really want to honor God in all their dealings.

We were forced into Samaritan’s Ministries when we could no longer afford $1400 a month PLUS a HUGE deductible for traditional insurance. And, I’m FOREVER THANKFUL that we were. Shortly after we joined SM, our daughter had an emergency appendectomy. Then a second emergency surgery to finish cleaning her out…. $20,000+. Every penny covered. I know that SM is not for everyone, but I think all believers should definitely consider it. Where do we put our trust? In our insurance policies or in the faithfulness of God? There are no guarantees in this life. No guarantees except we have a faithful Father who is the same yesterday, today, and forever. The King of Kings. Lord of Lords. Able to do abundantly above and beyond all we could ask or imagine.

I’m permanently disabled and finally qualified for Medicare in December. Prior to having Medicare, I dropped my health care coverage as it most definitely was NOT “affordable” – I had to pay $300 a month premiums as well as all of my visits/exams/tests until I met my deductible for the year – which was $6500! So in other words, it was money out and more money out, with absolutely no benefits. As it happens, I did end up in hospital for emergency surgery in October. Because I had no insurance, a rep for the hospital applied for a medicare spend down to cover the majority of the bills (just over $60,000!). I do still owe about $7500, which I will be able to pay off over time. My take: the affordable health care insurance act was set up to fail – and the only real winners are the insurance companies!

We switched to a health care sharing ministry over two years ago. The best decision we ever made! We did the research – the two you mentioned and Christian Healthcare Ministries. For our situation CHM was the best choice. Medi-share would not cover any previous conditions (that ruled out my husband). They also would only cover him provided he went on their approved diet and lost weight. Medi-share is probably a good choice for those who are young and have not had any previous illness/conditions. Our daughter and son-in-law are in that one and like it. We liked Samaritan Ministry but not the way the work the payments (just our preference). CHM costs us $150/month each for their best plan. It does not cover prescriptions but we found that there are a ton of discount cards available to anyone. It does not cover regular office visits. But when each of us had a claim – (they call it an incident), they covered EVERYTHING. They do have a small deductible (they call it personal responsibility) but any discount you receive due to paying cash (not using insurance), reduces the deductible. Ours was covered with the hospital bill so we had zero out of pocket when all was said and done. We can go to any doctor we choose, no referrals needed. Definitely do your research – but we love it!

I applaud these health cost-sharing programs for providing an opportunity to get out from under the insurance requirement that you pay for abortion coverage. My daughter and her family participate in Christian Health Ministries and have yet to receive anything from them. Basically they pay everything out of pocket, then apply for coverage which can take a VERY long time to come through, if they even cover your situation. They had to pay an upgrade charge to include my daughter’s pregnancy (3rd) and although my granddaughter is 6 months old, they have received “nada” from CHM except the promise to put their need out to other members for voluntary help. Meantime, the kids have had to pay hospital, doctors, midwives, labs, etc. out-of-pocket. They have been dunned by the medical bill-collectors even though they had agreed to participate with CHM. This is not meant as an anti-CHM or other cost-sharing outfit tirade…just as additional information.

I do not have personal experience yet with CHM, although we plan on joining this month. But I have a family member who has, and had her maternity fully covered.
It sounds like either your daughter joined after she became pregnant, or upgraded to the higher paying option after she became pregnant. CHM states that they only cover pregnancy if you joined CHM at least 300 days before your estimated due date. If she had the lower cost option that doesn’t include much maternity and upgraded after she became pregnant, that would also be a reason for them not providing coverage. That is why they recommend anyone who may become pregnant to have the highest coverage plan. I just read all this in their information packet, although it’s all on their website, too.
If she was on the highest plan well before her pregnancy, I would love to know why they won’t cover her…

What happens if you attend an extremely large church? Unfortunately our church is so large, the pastor doesn’t have a personal connection to many people outside of saying “Hi” in the foyer. I am active in the Kids Ministry and have a personal relationship with the Kids Pastor. Would that be an acceptable Pastor to sign off on those sheets?

Sadly, my darling hubby has pre-existing conditions, (Crohn’s Disease, CAD and past heart attack) so none of the share programs will take us. Insurance through the market is nearly $600 per month just for him + the $7000 deductible and only covers 70% after that. It was out of our range so we are taking the penalty and paying out of pocket. And guess what? The out of pocket expenses for us for most services are 80%-90% LESS than if we had the insurance! Insane, right?

You might find that the health-sharing cost is less than the insurance OR the new higher IRS penalties by a long shot, and then if you pay out-of-pocket you can still get the “uninsured” rates from providers and have something to fall back upon if the health-sharing agency actually helps you out with expenses.

We use Samaritan’s Ministries and love it! They are covered my home births at 100% and even my chiropractic care during pregnancy. I love that if we got cancer or another serious illness it would be covered to seek out alternative medicine doctors for treatment. That is something that isn’t covered by traditional medicine. SO if I wanted to go see Dr. so and so in Mexico to treat my cancer I could. Makes sense because it’s a TON cheaper than going the conventional route. It’s also saving me more than thousands of dollars a year (premiums and deductibles). I think it helps we are huge on prevention through diet and supplements and treating illness at home. We don’t go to the doctor unless we cannot clear something up at home or if there is an emergency like broken limb or trauma. Therefore we can put all that saved money into great quality food, supplements, and enjoying life!

I have health insurance through my work, so this doesn’t apply to me. I did find this article very interesting. It seems like a viable option for people who can’t afford basic insurance as your article states. But I do have a question or concern… The article states about the guidelines and/or requirements. I totally get and understand that a faith based plan would require people to follow a Christian life style; BUT as I have seen over and over through the years, people of flesh ALWAYS have differences in what they believe to be Biblical and Christian living. To often, we as people and Christians, even the best of people, insert our own opinions and beliefs into things where they have no place to be there (right in our own eyes), instead of leaving things in God’s hands and in His time. If someone is struggling with something or if God is placing a difficulty in someone’s life to learn or grow and they falter, or they just falter period… that means they can be denied coverage for a medical issue? For example, a recovering alcoholic who has been sober for 20 years and attends church faithfully… and then a life changing thing happens and he starts drinking because he becomes lost and unable to cope. 1-2 months later he is diagnosed with colon cancer… is he going to be covered or denied? I just don’t know about that… I know I don’t have all the exact details on how it works, but it did pop up in my mind as I read the article.

This is a very valid point, and as I said in my article, my biggest concern about these plans is the eligibility aspect. Rather than just covering anything/everything, if I get drunk and am in an accident (to your example), then I may be denied coverage. I understand both sides of that argument but that’s what gives me the biggest pause. To me (and as you said), it comes down to this: if I have health insurance through work or otherwise that is affordable, I’ll stick with health insurance.

According to my upbringing, Jesus, died on the cross for our sins and when and if we fall he will forgive us. He does not expect us to be perfect. He only asks to try to live like him. If everyone were like him, we wouldn’t need health insurance in the first place. I cannot and will not be a part of some group that decides who, what and when someone should receive medical help. Oh, Johnny was a bad boy this week and fell off of his bicycle and needs medical attention. But, no he was not living a Christian life at the time so no
medical for Johnny, he’ll have to bleed to death. This is ridiculous.

I am a member of Samaritan Ministries, since 2014. For anyone’s information, there have been some changes in their policies that are quite beneficial to us as members, namely, some things that had been “unpublishable” because of pre-existing conditions…that is not the case any longer. You can find these changes at http://samaritanministries.org/how-it-works/guidelines.

Personally, I can’t say enough good about Samaritan Ministries. I gladly send in my shares each month because it truly is a ministry that bears one another’s medical burdens through finances, prayer and encouragement; I especially am grateful to it because I have been on the receiving end! I am impressed with their involvement with legislation and in keeping this “medical sharing” as a legitimate option for us as Christians. It also is wonderful to have the freedom to choose our care, doctors, etc. instead of what some countries are experiencing with national healthcare. It would be nice not to have had things go the way they have (thank you, HMO’s, unreasonable lawsuits, unnecessary procedures, etc.), and health care be truly affordable and reasonable, and insurance be what it was originally intended to be…to the patient AND the doctors.

We have been with Samaritan Ministries for a year and are so very thankful for them. My gall bladder surgery and all related expenses were covered. Negotiating a cash price is EASY. Health providers all gave us a lower cash price immediately. If we had be standard insurance patients, the costs would’ve been $25,000+, as cash pay patients, they were $6200. We paid everything up front with a credit card and were reimbursed within 3-4 months by our Samaritan brothers and sisters. Because the final costs were so much cheaper, even the $300 deductible and the interest on our credit card was covered. If you don’t have a credit card, simply set up a monthly parent system and pay it off as you are reimbursed. And our monthly shares go directly to brothers and sisters in Christ, never abortion providers. The $300 deductible is per medical incident ( not necessarily per doctor’s visit). I have no problem being accountable through our pastor. A pastor’s job is to watch for the souls of his sheep. If your pastor doesn’t know you well enough to sign for you, perhaps you don’t have the right relationship with your pastor/church.

We have Samaritan and love it! Most hospitals/clinics have a discount if you’re paying cash (which you are-you are paid directly from members and then pay the facility). All it takes is a phone call or one visit with the financial people. Our hospital cuts the bill by 50% for cash pay! We are self employed and the only way we could begin to afford insurance is to have a $5000 deductible and then pay 20% of the bill which would have come to another $20000 when my husband had a heart attack. We ended up paying $300. For Samaritan, we pay around $400 per month.

We have been using Christian Healthcare Ministry, a faith-based health plan, for almost a year.
We researched for almost a year. We searched about all three plans and chose CHM. We love this ministry! We had a situation come up immediately after we joined, and there wasn’t one thing that wasn’t covered.
What is awesome is that when you call them, they immediately put you on their prayer list.
What insurance company would do that?
One thing to realize when choosing a ministry like this…..it is a bit of work. You are in charge of your health plan, meaning you are also responsible for filing paperwork and documents that are pertinent to your situation. In closing, I’d like to say that in the 2 cases we used this plan, both helped us save tremendous amounts of money using the doctors we preferred. We saved 1/2 of my daughter’ tonsillectomy bill. I was so amazed at the discounts you receive when paying cash!

Check to make sure that they are exempt from the Affordable Health Care Act. Only the health care sharing ministries that were in business before 1993(?) are exempt. That would make Medi-Share, SMI and one other whose name I can’t remember, the ones that are currently exempt. That may change, but that is the current info that I know.

Liberty was the only one I researched that provided for one annual well visit/exam per year, plus it covers preventive test like mammograms, colonoscopy, etc. Check them out. That couple of things are what swayed me to go with them. Fortunately, I have not had any claims to report, so on experience on the payment/reimbursement side. I do know they also cover alternative medical approaches like wellness/chiropractic/holistic care.

We were in between jobs and insurance plans at one time, so we decided to try Samaritan Ministries. The first major thing that bothered me was that you had to have your pastor’s signature on everything from the application to any and every claim you submitted. Not only his signature (and who has time for that?), but the same questions were meant to be checked off every single time, which included things like, whether the member was attending church regularly, not having sex out of marriage and living a godly lifestyle.

While I understand they are a Christian company, those questions are insane!

At the time I was attending a church that had 3 services. And although I did know the pastor as a friend, he wasn’t responsible for knowing things about my personal life, to this extent.

The 2nd thing that I wasn’t comfortable with, was the fact that you were expected to go into each medical appointment and bargain with them about cost. As in, stand at the receptionist’s desk and try to make a deal, since you would be paying up front. For me, that was a very bad dream come true!

So, those are my only complaints, but I do think it’s great to have other options, because we get robbed of about 1200.00 per month for a family of 4, for insurance.

I don’t understand what you mean by members might opt not to cover a need. Maybe that’s something with Medi-share, which I’m not familiar with, but with Samaritan, by which I’ve had 3 needs covered so far, there’s no option to not share a need. If you are paid up, you get your bills covered after the first $300, including discounts, so you may never have to pay a dime.

If it’s not pre-existing or something directly caused by a sinful behavior (drunk driving accident, for example), there’s no option not to share, nor do members have any say in what is or isn’t covered. I have seen needs covered only at 98% because there were an unusual number of bills to pay one month, but even that doesn’t happen very often, and gets spread evenly among every member, so that you might be out $$2 out of every $100 owed, rather than a whole bill not getting covered.

LOL Cindy! What I meant by the “members might not opt to cover a need” comes from the Medi-share website FAQs. Notice at the end, though, that it isn’t to vote on specific individuals, just on their overall coverages. However, there are “horror stories” of people not getting covered because their need was deemed ineligible for some reason or another. That said, I think those are major exceptions to the rule, which happens in any system. To quote Medi-Share on the general approach:
“Q. Who makes the rules for the Medi-Share program?
A. The Members make the rules! All Members have the opportunity to vote on how they wish to care for one another. The Board of Directors review suggestions from Medi-Share Members and recommends changes to the Guidelines each year. Voting is used to help create, amend and change the program Guidelines; voting is not used for determining whether specific individual bills should be published for sharing.”

We had never heard of these kinds of programs. Certainly an option for us to consider. We are currently uninsured. The down side we have found is that preventative care is not publishable (covered). Not cool! We will need to spend a great deal out of pocket to pay for hubby’s colonoscopy and my pap and mammogram. All of which are very much over due. It does seem like a good safety net in the event of something unexpected though. Our research continues. Thanks for the info!

I read one of the articles online about Medishare and it appeared that halfway through the article the ones who the article was mainly about..a terribly deformed woman from a brain tumor..had stated clearly that it was the state regulators fault for shutting medishare down during the time of her operation, and not letting them operate like they should have. I have to agree that there may be problems with insurance- any insurance but taking Medishare to task should not have been over that poor woman’s condition because the state interfered with her treatment..not the insurance company. To be honest, then, the picture of Medishare leaving a woman in horrific conditions is misleading.

What it came down to for my husband and I is the fact that our money we were paying to the insurance company was being used for things we would not otherwise support, such as abortions and abortifacient birth controls. That fact made the decision for us to switch over to Samaritans.

I have thought about this! Right now our insurance is fine, but I’ve thought about it for the future if my hubby goes and does his own thing. I hear it’s great and that those special case scenarios are usually covered.

thank you for posting this information. My husband and I are Missionaries and “self employed” so the cost of insurance for our family is completely unaffordable. With the economy the way it is financial support is alot harder to raise. This looks like a good alternative for us.

If you have any questions Faith I’d be happy to tell you about our experience with Samaritan Ministries. As I stated up about we have just gone through a scary, emergency c-section and NICU stay and everything we had hoped about SM has been true! We were a bit worried before we joined, but it has been wonderful!

I’ve enjoyed reading this discussion. I too have been wondering about these plans as our insurance costs continue to skyrocket. I’m still leery of jumping off the boat into something new, but I have asked for info to be sent on the MediShare program. I keep reading on these and prayerfully considering if this might be a better option for our family than standard insurance.

I think this is an interesting article…and I’ve heard of health plans like this before. A friend of mine had written about the Samaritan plan. Right now, we’re so broke, that we can’t afford any health coverage of any kind whatsoever. Right now, our health insurance is God…keeping us safe 😉 🙂 Now when my dad had his heart scare back in January, he went to the hospital to be treated. It was a literal life/death situation…and we weren’t sure how we would cover it. Fortunately he’s a veteran, so the VA paid for EVERYTHING. That was a real blessing. My dad has health coverage through the VA…but I don’t. Love and hugs from the ocean shores of California, Heather 😉

This topic, along with the high premiums we are paying for insurance, just adds to my feeling of frustration that this country chooses not to take care of its citizens with a national health insurance program. When we consider the incredible amounts of money that many are paying to buy insurance, and if we instead funneled even a portion of that money to a national insurance (yes, a tax), most people would be better off in the long run. And people could stop making career decision that are controlled more by the practicality of finding insurance than by the passion for their work. The biggest losers, financially, in a national program would be those blessed few that still have fully – or mostly – paid insurance through their work. But the handwriting is on the wall – this fringe benefit is one more and more companies are choosing not to pay for. But for now, the decision-makers aren’t being hit in the pocketbook either, so the rest of us are stuck. OK, that’s my soapbox rant. Stepping down now. Thanks for reading.

Karen, I know many will disagree with your comment (and I admit I do as well, but not because I disagree with a need for change), but I thank you for putting it out there for the sake of discussion. If you’ve been around here long enough, you’ll know I’ll approve and publish any comments (positive or negative) that are constructive and can move along the discussion/debate in a positive direction.

My disagreement comes because I believe the discussion needs to go much deeper than a “national health plan”. I tend to believe that nationalizing any program that can’t already function on its own surely won’t make it better and I instead believe our government needs to get smaller rather than larger. If I truly believed my tax dollars were well spent I’d have no trouble going along with many of the government programs, but I KNOW there is way too much waste and junk going on in Washington. HOWEVER, I also believe that SOMETHING must be done about our health care and I’m open for any good ideas – I sure haven’t heard any decent options yet that can handle the mess we’re in with our health care.

Hey Amanda, since I couldn’t find a good answer for this, I called Medi-Share and just asked. The gentleman I spoke with was EXTREMELY helpful and in our discussion, he shared that Medi-Share is a primary provider, but the fact that you have other insurance coverage would not keep you from being in their program or getting assistance from it. However, he challenged me to compare insurance coverage that you may have against them, simply because the cost associated with having two “primary” providers just doesn’t make good sense. One suggestion he made was to have the person covered by insurance at work for example to keep that insurance but have the family covered by Medi-Share (as dependent coverage is often not covered by employers). Hope that helps.

My parents have been members of Samaritan ministries for years. They have definitely helped them through the years by covering the majority of several major health issues. I will say, though, that they put off my dad’s heart surgery until he was eligible for Medicare, just to be sure it was covered. One other thing to consider: there are hospitals and clinics that treat the uninsured and accept whatever payment is offered (however little it might be). My youngest sister had to have open heart surgery as an infant, which would have cost thousands and thousands of dollars at Hopkins (the closest children’s hospital to where we lived at the time), and while Samaritan paid the majority (as i recall) of the testing and medical work leading up to the surgery, my parents opted to go to Deborah Heart and Lung Center in New Jersey, which treats heart patients for free (or whatever they can afford to pay). In fact, they continued to monitor my sister’s condition until she turned 18, at absolutely no cost! I have heard of similar hospitals that treat other conditions.

Do you know if any of the health sharing plans have a deductible requirement? In other words, would a member have to pay a certain amount out-of-pocket each year before the pool kicks in and pays the bills?

I just had someone comment and provide an answer to that for Samaritan Ministries. It seems that costs under $300 (with their plan) are yours; bigger expenses get shared and covered. That means routine doctor visits, etc. are not covered, but there isn’t a real “deductible” like you’d have with insurance. See this answer (and some other good details I didn’t know or share) in the comments.

My husband and I recently decided we are going to drop our private health insurance and go wit Samaritan Ministries instead. One of the biggest reasons for doing this is because they cover homebirths and maternity, and we want more children. You really cannot get maternity coverage through a private plan, so we have had to pay everything out of pocket for the birth of both of our daughters and it does not even goes towards our deductible since it’s not considered medical! For our second, we went the homebirth route to save money (and had an amazing experience too!). We know we want to do future homebirths, and Samaritan Ministries will cover it (actually, they encourage homebirths since it is much cheaper)!

We are a pretty healthy family, so the coverage they provide is perfect for us. I love how they put God into the process too – you can’t get that anywhere else! If we went the traditional insurance route, purchased privately since my husband is a minister and also self-employed, we spend just under $300 a month for a policy that does not cover ANYTHING until we pay $10,400 out of pocket PLUS not everything is considered applicable towards the deductible (IE: maternity costs)! If we wanted a lower, more manageable deductible, it would be closer to $1000, and we are in our 20’s!

Another question. I have a child with special needs. She just turned 6 and has had 5 major surgeries. I am talking surgeries that where 100K. Does Medi-Share cover such huge medical expenses? Or is Medi-Share just for routine medical expenses like check-ups, vax’s etc.

I’m not sure how Medi-Share works but we are with Samaritan Ministries and are SO happy with it. My husband actually is eligible for coverage through work, but our part of the premiums was still very high. Samaritan does NOT cover routine doctor visits. Members are responsible for that and any minor procedures under $300. That is part of what keeps the monthly share so low. Just setting aside part of what you save from not paying the high premiums easily offsets the doctor visit costs.

What I LOVE about Samaritan is that as long as there are enough funds, your ENTIRE bill after the first $300 is covered. (We were responsible for 20% with my husband’s insurance. 20% of a major bill would have sunk us!) The only need we have submitted this far was for my daughter’s birth. They were so easy to work with. When I had a difficult time getting the necessary expense breakdown, I called and asked what I should do. Our team leader said, “Children are a blessing. Take care of your baby and stop worrying. You did what you could, let us take care of it now.” I nearly cried. 😉

The month we submitted our bills to Samaritan, they had more needs than total pool. The upfront amount of our need was supplied at 80%. Any discounts we could get were taken afterward. Then, since we still had an unpaid portion, the following month’s surplus and donations that came in, went to help each of us that still had unpaid expenses. In the end, we had to cover less than $100 of our bill!

God is good and through Samaritan we have seen His goodness to us through His people. I highly recommend them!

Thanks for giving these details and a good testimony of the program! It seems like no one yet has had anything bad to say about the program (of those who are actually enrolled). Thanks for sharing this info!

Be sure to ask these very specific questions when you call to talk to a representative. I know that Liberty did not cover congenital defects and possibly not birth-related injuries as well. Be sure to ask if they have a catastrophic coverage cap, too.

With any insurance company people need to check the reputation of paying claims. Insurance is not good if the company is slow and picky paying claims. For instance, some polices only cover major strokes not mini strokes Did you know there was a difference? If you can’t get the insurance to pay your medical bills what is the point in getting it. My husband also sales supplemental insurance. When we could not afford health insurance we made sure we had a supplemental policy that would cover major issues. This is important because if something major happened like cancer and heart attacks and we didn’t have insurance that covered those health issues we would be in a financial hardship for the rest of our lives.

I know someone who uses Samaritan Ministries and she and her family have been blessed tremendously by their membership. They adopted a special needs child from Bulgaria and have had a lot of health expenses, but God has made the way for them, through Samaritan and the kindness of others. Her blog is The Blessing of Verity. 🙂

We have Medi-share. We opted to use medishare instead of the traditional health insurance available to us by my husband employer. We love it and have no problems with it! We researched it before we made the decision to switch. No, medishare does not cover everything that traditional health insurance covers. That is a big reason why they can keep the premiums lower would be my guess. Medishare is a faith based sharing “company”. So we had to sign a form giving our testimony of faith in Jesus Christ, confirming that we were active in our local church and had to give the name of the church, the pastor’s name and a reference for them to verify our information. There are limitations to eligibility. Personally, I like that. It means that my money is not going to pay for certain things that I believe go against Biblical principles! I was informed before joining that a certain medical condition would not be covered as it was a pre-existing condition. I had no problems with that as I had taken measures before joining that would take care of it and I firmly believe that if I live (to the best of my ability) a healthy life style and whole foods diet I won’t have any more problems with it. I have never heard that we can choose not to pay a particular medical bill. They do have certain rules in place that say certain things will not be paid, but you are told about those up front. If something comes up that is in question, it is brought before all members and we vote on it. The last thing that came up was about well baby care after the baby is born (follow up check-ups and such) only because they were not listed as an active member. We voted that it should be covered. My opinion, they haven’t had time to add a newborn, so if we are going to cover pregnacy cost, why not cover new baby needs. I don’t see a real problem with the sharing plans and love the one we are with! As for most things, it’s not for everyone, but it sure works for my husband and I. We also liked the fact that when we joined, Medishare was debt free. All medicals bills submited, had been paid in full!

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